Dentsu

Can AI Pass Advertising’s Cannes Lions Turing Test?

Richard Stoney argues that the ad industry should test AI creatively by challenging leading models to write a single 90-second TV script capable of winning a Cannes Lions award. He frames this as an "advertising Turing test" that would prove whether AI can match human creativity in its most human category. Stoney cites the long history of the Turing test and early claims of machine 'success', and questions whether current AI hype reflects real creative capability. He also criticises Meta/Facebook’s automated ad-creation and media-buying tools for producing poor or nonsensical creative and for opaque campaign control. The piece concludes that if AI could reliably produce award-winning ads, it would fundamentally disrupt creative recognition and institutions like Cannes Lions.

Newton Research Launches Unlimited Analytics Agentic Layer

Newton Research launched Unlimited Analytics on August 4, 2026 — an agentic AI intelligence layer for digital advertising that provides brands, agencies and media companies with analytics across media planning, activation, optimization and measurement. The platform uses multiple AI agents and agentic workflows (accessible via natural-language prompts or pre-built blueprints) and is already engaged by partners including Dentsu, Horizon Media and RPA. Key capabilities include advanced causal modeling with per-brand/per-channel/day granularity, accelerated marketing-mix-modeling (MMMs) that cuts timelines from months to days, and agentic media buying that surfaces real-time intelligence. Unlimited Analytics interoperates with existing stacks and clean rooms and integrates client first- and licensed third-party data via Snowflake connections to avoid separate transfers. Horizon Media has used it within Horizon Blu for about a year and reports a 10–20% increase in return on ad spend; quotes from Lisa Herdman and CEO John Hoctor accompany the announcement.

Heineken increasingly works directly with tech partners

Heineken’s Cruzcampo brand partnered with ad tech firm GumGum and creative agency Lucky Generals for a new video campaign, using GumGum’s Mindset Graph to identify environments where consumers are most receptive. The analysis found Cruzcampo over-indexes on attention in escapism, discovery and leisure contexts (travel and dining content), prompting Heineken to prioritise engagement and attention metrics over pure reach. Heineken retains Dentsu for strategic planning and traditional media buying, while its in-house digital team selects tech partners directly. GumGum executives say the trend of brands sitting closer to tech vendors and hiring programmatic specialists is increasing transparency and collaboration across brand, agency and tech relationships.